Mazda 3 Tire & Wheel Questions

Comments

I have the same car as you and I have to say that first off, there is no such a thing as a "budget" tire sold in the 205/50 R17 size. That said, if I was looking for a low cost tire in this size, the following three tires get pretty good reviews, are low cost (relatively speaking) and would make my short list (in order of which I'd most likely buy):

The stock 17" Goodyears barely made it to 30k on my '06 MZ3. I replaced them with Dunlop SP Sport Signatures and have almost 40k on them with no complaints. It still handles great, but the ride is a little better than Goodyears. They're MUCH better in rain than the stock tires, too!

I bought them from my local Goodyear store and paid $420 OTD for the set of four. They come with a 60k treadwear warranty, too!

One more reason for me to switch to 16" wheels. The 16's will still handle plenty good for me and will ride better. Hopefully quieter too. The tires will also cost less. I tried to get the dealer to offer my 17's as a swap with someone buying a 3 with 16's but no takers.

I'm about to replace my Toyo tires (crappy in my opinion) and I have narrowed my selection down to 3 choices and would like to hear any feedback/advice from you guys (pros & cons, reduced mpg, etc). I have a 3s sedan w/16's and going to go replace w/ 215 55 16. I'm not an aggressive driver but like good cornering & want good traction (for when it does rain here in the desert as well as for windy conditions).1. Michelin Pilot Exalto A/S2. Goodyear Eagle GT3. Yokohama YK520Thanks in advance!

Have you considered the Dunlop SP Sport Signature? The original Goodyear Eagles were shot on my '06 MZ3 (17") at less than 30k. The Dunlops were quite a bit less expensive than replacement Goodyear Eagles ($450 vs. $800). It's been almost 40k since I got them and I'm very pleased. Handling is almost as good as with the OEM Eagles, but ride quality, wet-weather traction and road noise are all significantly better!

BTW, the 16" s has 205/55/16 standard...are you sure you want to go up to a 215? It'll throw speedometer calibration off by 1mph or so...just FYI.

Regarding sizes 205/55 or 215/55 for a 16" tire: you may not have a choice as some brands have a limited selection of sizes. I went up to a 205/50/16 V rated tire for my Protege5 (OEM 195/50/16) and have had no problem. I agree with you about the better road grip and better look of the larger tire. You may want to check with a tire specialist or post a question at the Tire Trends site for an "expert" opinion.

If you want to stay with your factory wheels and yet go to a wider tire, you should consider tires in the 225/50 R16 size as they have a virtually identical outer diameter and as such will not affect your speedometer and odometer.

1. will there be any issues w/rubbing, etc w/ the 225/50/16?2. are you satisfied w/ the factory size 205's (handling, etc) or did you go wider?

I've been researching different tires, reviews, etc... & my head is spinning from too much info, lol. I want to save some $ but want good performance tires so i'm trying to decide weather its really worth getting the wider tires. (dang, I really wanted those Michelins but they're expensive!)

I've got 205s on my Mazda3 and they're proving to be extremely capable in the handling department, and unless I decide to "track" my car, I doubt I'll ever need anything wider (although I do like the look of wider rubber).

As for rubbing, I seriously doubt there'll be any issues as I've read about folks going with 235s with no issues (unless they lowered their car as well).

No, absolutely positively not, you cannot make that tire change. If you want to go to go with the 205/55 R16 tires, you need to buy new wheels. By far your best bet would simply be to buy a better/more cost effective set of 205/50 R17 tires than the lousy Goodyear Eagle RS-As that came on your car.

you can check tire sizes and what the effect will be on the speedometer as well as compare dimensions at the following site.http://www.discounttire.com/dtcs/infoTireMath.dosI have found this handy as different sizes will give you more options and better price points.

Hi, I need some advice. I recently took my Mazda3 to get its 15K mile service, and my front tires were in the "yellow" indicating that I would need new tires soon. I then took it to a tire shop so they could make a recommendation and they gave me the run around with why my tires are wearing out so quickly.

I don't drive fast, or take hard, fast turns. In addition, most of my commute is freeway driving. I am probably the most boring mazda3 driver. The tire store told me that if I had rotated my tires every 5K miles, that I could have maybe gotten 25K miles on the tires. But to have to replace my front two tires at 16K miles, seems ridiculous.

Not sure if this has anything to do with it, but my tire pressure light has gone on 3 times in the last few months. I then put the appropriate amount of air in my tires. I live in SF, CA, so I don't deal with harsh weather conditions.

Do you think there is something wrong with my car that caused the front two tires to wear so quickly?? Should I get it checked out?

Depending on how persistent (and insistent) you're willing to be, you could start with the trying to make your dealership replace them. Have you rotated them at all? If not, the dealer will most likely refuse to warranty them and use that as an excuse.

The original tires on '06 MZ3 s 5-door were rotated ever 7,500 miles from the time it was new. Even so, at 28k they were trashed! It never occured to me that they could be worn out with so few miles on them. I took it in to the Goodyear shop for an oil change and tire rotate/balance and a few minutes later, the manager was showing me that two of the tires had worn into the steel belt! The tread was separating from the sidewalls....I was a little freaked out by it.

My car has the 17" alloys (your's are probably 15" or 16" unless you have an i Touring Value model- which has 17"). The cost to replace all four tires with the same exact Goodyears that were on it was over $1000!!! And they'd have done the same thing in another 28k miles or so....no thanks!

I went with Dunlop SP Sport Signatures which cost just under $600 for all four, out the door. I have put about 43k on them since then and they still have plenty of tread life to go!

Quick question- are your tires wearing on the inside or outside edge or is it more consistent wear across the entire tread patch? Wearing on the edges is a sure sign of an alignment problem- usually costs about $50-$75 to correct that. The car might also have a tendency to pull or drift to the right or left if the alignment is out.

I think that the key is that you failed to rotate the tires every 5K AND you waited for the TPS to tell you when your tires needed air. I rotated the OEM Bridgestones on my Mazdaspeed 3 and checked the air pressure at least monthly- as a result I got almost exactly 25K out of them- and that included a three day track event.

my son's 2008 mazda3 sport has 6000 miles and needs new front tires. the dealer says the alignment is OK and not the cause. he says the car is being driven 'aggresively' because the back tires are OK.we do understand these tires wear out quickly, but 6000 miles is ridiculous. though our son [18 yo] drives fast, we have not seen him floor the pedal and squeal out or anything of that nature. we do live on a hill. is it possible that his fast driving is causing this wear? suggestions for they say it is not under warranty for this.

Most likely it's just the piece of junk Goodyear Eagle RS-A tires that came from the factory. Before I bought my 2009 Mazda3 I'd read so many complaints about these tires that I ordered a new set of Michelin Pilot Sport A/S tires and had them swapped onto the car after the first 700 miles. The difference was immediately apparent as the car was much easier to control both in a straight line and when carving through the turns.

As for mileage, I now have over 17,000 miles on them and they look like they've maybe consumed a quarter of their tread. To my way of thinking, if I get anything over 40,000 miles out of them they will owe me nothing when I finally do replace them.